The medicating of Americas youth

[duck hunt]

Faulkner? Ecch! My students love Hemingway, Flannery O'Connor (good and weird), James Baldwin, Shirley Jackson and the all-time number one favorite, Poe. Right now we are finishing up Zora Neale Hurston -- her recipe for voodoo zombies was a big hit. You should probably know that about 65 to 70 percent of my kids are LD/ED, so anyone who uses 50-cent words and lots of flowery metaphors is probably lost on them. I think that's why Hemingway was such a winner.

I agree that if kids could run loose like we used to (no daycare, no malls, no video games), there would be a lot less Ritalin floating around.

And by the way, Gary -- rah for Mr. Feldman! That's the kind of teacher we need more of. A round of books for the house!

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*quack*

[This message has been edited by duck hunt (edited February 26, 2000).]

 

[Jedi Oomodo]

When I was in 5th grade (and prior to then BTW), I was a daydreamer and had a hard time paying attention in class. One time, in class (this is 5th grade), we were doing our spelling, and the teacher called on me. I had been in a daze and didn't hear her. When I explained what had happened, did she ask my Mom to put me on Ritalin? No! She recommended that I be tested for epilepsy, with no mention of ADD/ADHD at all, and this was in 1985/6! BTW I was tested, and I do not have epilepsy. In MOHO, I was simply a candidate for home schooling.

I recognize that Ritalin/Prozac/Currentfaddrug may have their legitimate medical uses, but kids are far too often labeled "ADD" and doped up, when all they really needed was some discipline and adult interaction, preferably from their parents (both of them). While people are beginning to wake up to the fact that guns are useful tools for crime deterrence, and crime is declining, we may well see a dark period in our near future as all of today's yuppie-fied, spoiled, and medicated children become tomorrow's teens and young adults.

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Only in America, we're slaves to be free/Only in America, we kill the unborn, to make ends meet/Only in America, sexuality is democracy/Only in America, we stamp our god "In God we trust"

What is right or wrong?
I don't know who to believe in
My soul sings a different song, in America

If it isna Scottish, it's CRAP! RKBA!